Throughout the years vehicle headlights, or the bulbs therein, can occasionally loosen or shift, or simply become misdirected as the vehicle's suspension changes over time. In these scenarios, the headlight beam often becomes directed in an undesirable manner. For example, the beam could be too high or too far to the left potentially distracting oncoming vehicles, or even too low preventing the vehicle operator from having a good view of its own path. Mechanical adjustment of the headlight beam has been an option for many years and is sufficient in most instances.
While sufficient to overcome the rare need for adjustment, there are times when intermittent issues create similar situations wherein the headlight beam becomes misdirected. For example, a vehicle loaded with vacation gear may cause the headlight beam to be too high. While the issue is intermittent, it would be desirable to have a simple way to adjust the headlight beam during the trip and to readjust the beam upon arrival and unpacking.
Even more, it would be desirable not to have to perform the task of locating the mechanical adjusters within the engine compartment and manually adjusting the headlight beams. Accordingly, a need exists for a means of adjusting the headlight beams of a vehicle without opening the hood. Preferably, the vehicle operator could adjust the headlight beams from within the passenger compartment without the need for tools or complex instructions. In this manner, both intermittent and non-intermittent issues can be readily and conveniently dealt with.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,225,902 describes a vehicle having a dashboard mounted controller for adjusting a headlamp assembly in order to control a headlamp beam. While sufficient to adjust the headlamps from within the passenger compartment, the described controller is limited to movement of the headlight beams in one direction, described as up or down. The controller is further limited to movement of the headlight assembly to one of three predetermined positions.
While these and similar systems are effective in certain limited circumstances, there are other circumstances when a vehicle operator requires or desires even more flexibility. Accordingly, a need exists for a method of fully adjusting the headlight beams of a vehicle from within the passenger compartment. Preferably, the vehicle operator would be able to adjust the right headlight, the left headlight or both at the same time. Even more, the adjustment would be continuous. In other words, the adjustment would be up/down and/or right/left allowing the beam to be adjusted in any direction. The only boundaries on the adjustment would be determined by applicable vehicle standards to prevent an operator from adjusting the headlight beam too high or too far to the left for example.